June 6, 1963 - Aerial view of El Cajon Boulevard, looking east from Park Avenue shows the parade route President John F. Kennedy took to San Diego State College.
— Ted Winfield/U-T San Diego file photo

Members of the Congress of Racial Equality gathered at the intersection of Fairmount Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard and carried signs demanding "Freedom Now" and "No Federal Funds for Segregated Schools" during the motorcade for President John F. Kennedy
— Bob Redding/U-T San Diego file photo

President John F. Kennedy received an honorary degree in law at San Diego State College in 1963. It was the first honorary doctorate ever awarded by California State colleges.
— U-T San Diego file photo

President Kennedy shakes hands with a well-wisher in crowd at San Diego State College. He delivered the commencement address and received the college's first honorary doctorate on June 6, 1963.
— U-T San Diego file photo

President John F. Kennedy spoke with Joey Renzi, 11, who had been blind since birth, at the MCRD parade ground. The President gave Joey and his younger brother, John, a PT boat pin as a souvenir.
— U-T San Diego file photo

With the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination this week, Americans are reliving days of tragedy and loss.

Yet images of the young leader also remind many of brighter days — like June 6, 1963, when Kennedy swept through San Diego. In his packed hours here, the president motorcaded through avenues lined by 200,000-plus spectators; challenged San Diego State College’s graduating Class of ’63 to embrace his civil rights agenda; engaged in an unforgettable chat with a remarkable boy; and, summoning fresh memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis, reconfirmed his commitment to American sea power.

In this whirlwind visit, Kennedy touched on foreign policy and domestic affairs, enhanced San Diego State’s stature, flexed his political muscle and flashed his charisma.

“A bunch of important moments coalesce that day,” said Seth Mallios, a San Diego State University anthropology professor. “It’s in between the Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination — and it’s a week before he introduced what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews calls June 1963 “Kennedy’s greatest month,” noting that the president used those weeks to back a nuclear test ban treaty; urge Congress to ban segregated public facilities; assure Berlin’s citizens, cut off from the rest of West Germany by the Berlin Wall, “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

And he came to San Diego.

Reading the signs

Soon after Air Force One touched down at Lindbergh Field on the morning of June 6, 1963, the presidential limousine began rolling east toward San Diego State.

By the time the motorcade hit El Cajon Boulevard, thousands lined the sidewalks, straining to glimpse Kennedy over the 300 police officers and 1,500 Marines guarding the route. James Daigh, a teenager, snapped a photo of the smiling, waving president as he rolled past Rudford’s Restaurant. (The color picture now graces the diner’s menus and appears as a mural on an outer wall.)

David Bogan was there, too, although the 4-year-old came from a Republican family.

Sitting on the curb, the boy and two young pals were surprised when a press photographer handed them a “Welcome President Kennedy” sign.

“Here, kids,” the photojournalist said. “Hold this!”

A photo in the next day’s paper showed “the younger set” greeting the Democratic president.

“I remember my father saying my grandfather would be rolling over in his grave,” Bogan noted, “to see me holding a Kennedy sign.”

Related

The president was also met by signs urging him to ban the bomb, impeach Chief Justice Earl Warren and end racial discrimination.

Harold Brown, then a 29-year-old teacher, stood with other Congress of Racial Equality members near El Cajon and Fairmount Avenue.

“We wanted to express our feelings to the president of the United States,” Brown remembered, “and let him know it wasn’t all sunny and rosy in San Diego for what were called Negroes in those days.”

Brown is unsure whether the president saw his group. Five days later, though, Kennedy asked Congress to ban segregation in “facilities which are open to the public — hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments.”